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This morning my 19 year old nephew was hit by a snow plow while waiting for the bus.
He suffered a severe concussion and extreme head trama, if his head doesn't stop swelling, they'll have to cut the top of his head off to relieve swelling. As of right now, he is awake but he remembers nothing about who he is and he thinks he is 10 years old.
I'm glad he's alive but right now my family is scared about his memory. Will it come back? The doctors aren't really saying anything other then wait and see. Does anybody have any real life experinces of this kind of thing? Anything I could share with my family that would be positive would be helpful.
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FREEAGLELAND25156 Posts
I'm sorry man 
I wish the best for your nephew. I don't have any experience so I can only offer my condolences.
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All the people i knew that had concussions did regain their memory excluding the event. My mother took about a few weeks, one of my friends within hours. I hope for the best in your case, best of luck!
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I'm very sorry, but with severe headtraume every single one of my textbooks has sadly been rather unanimous - wait and see
I know most patients do regain their memory, but it can take a very long time...
Best of luck!
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Well, that's really quite something *hugs*
I have no real life experience with this kind of injury, but being a medical student I can tell you that much:
A concussion as well as a head trauma you described above can cause certain psychological phenomena, including memory loss. Other possible symptoms are anxiety, paranoia, sudden aggression or depression. Those symptoms aren't uncommon after a severe concussion and/or head trauma and vanish sooner or later, depending on how hard the brain has been "shaken".
What I got from your post is that you are scared mostly because the doctors aren't really clear about what they think concerning your nephews's memory. I figure that's because they're not sure about how far the swelling will go and whether it's going to be surgery or not; the memory loss is just less scary for them since they know its origin and what I've told you above. But they're doctors and often forget that the patients and their families don't know as much as they do.
I hope I was able to help a little; best of luck for your nephew!
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good luck to him! i hope nothing too serious like memory loss happens. He might have temporary memory loss but hopefully not permanent
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I hope he makes a full recovery. Head injuries are so iffy I think there's always quite a bit of uncertainty so the "wait and see" thing is the route most doctors take.
my thoughts are with your family Brent.
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Damn son, I hope everything goes well!
No one wants to hear it when it involves family but the only answer you are going to get is "wait and see"...just the nature of the beast in this situation. ><
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United States21994 Posts
Good luck >.<
Yeah, with memory loss its very hit and miss, and a generally little understood topic, its possible he will fully recover his memory, or its possible that they are gone forever, or he might recover parts and not others. Generally the only tried and true answer is "wait and see". Pray for the best.
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Thanks everyone for the positive reinforcement and huge thanks missefficiency for the in depth post.
They are planning to release him tomorrow morning, his head swelling is going down but still no memory of who he is or what happened. He still thinks he's 10.
Police have the driver in custody, driver is claiming it wasn't his fault. I'm kinda angry. He was doing 60 in a 45 and the snow we got the day before yesterday, all melted away last night from the rain. What is he doing at 6am going that fast when there is no snow on the ground. Grrrr. And then the audacity to claim it wasn't his fault and that my nephew should have been more aware he was coming. My sister is planning to take him to court.
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On January 20 2012 10:19 Psyonic_Reaver wrote:
Thanks everyone for the positive reinforcement and huge thanks missefficiency for the in depth post.
They are planning to release him tomorrow morning, his head swelling is going down but still no memory of who he is or what happened. He still thinks he's 10.
Police have the driver in custody, driver is claiming it wasn't his fault. I'm kinda angry. He was doing 60 in a 45 and the snow we got the day before yesterday, all melted away last night from the rain. What is he doing at 6am going that fast when there is no snow on the ground. Grrrr. And then the audacity to claim it wasn't his fault and that my nephew should have been more aware he was coming. My sister is planning to take him to court.
I hope the driver gets some kind of punishment for this, or I don't think it would be fair. Where was your nephew when he was hit, exactly? Does anyone know?
Also, how do you plan to deal with your nephew at home? I can't even imagine what it would be like :/
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Where the bus stop is, there is hardly any sidewalk. You pretty much have to stand in the road. (City neglects this part of town) So my nephew was off to the side pretty far. As far as you can go without standing in weeds/dirt/trees. This guy was half way off the road when he hit him.
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I haven't hadn't had an injury that traumatic. I have been hit by a car and I still can't remember what happened exactly. I remember right before it happened when I heard the car behind me, and then a few minutes later. (Obviously very small memory loss that doesn't affect me day to day or anything.) I have heard of different head injuries where people had very similar permanent memory loss of the accident itself but recovered all other memories. In general though the brain behaves strangely and unpredictably. There are lots of stories but no medical rules to go by.
I hope your nephew recovers. :/ Stay positive!
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Yes. One of my classmates was hit by a soccer post in the head.
She lost all her memory(and many mental facilities) but her language skills, and woke up not knowing anyone around her.
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A friend of mine was in a car accident and had severe head trauma as well. For a couple of weeks he didn't recognize anyone, but gradually his memory came back. He started to recognize his parents in the hospital and then his friends who visited him. He still has no memory of the accident itself but most of his memory is back. His short-term memory is pretty damaged, though. He failed his driver's license test like three times or so and his career chances are looking rather bleak. But he's still doing fine overall. Back then the doctors said to just wait and see. I guess that's all you can do.
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On January 20 2012 10:19 Psyonic_Reaver wrote:
Thanks everyone for the positive reinforcement and huge thanks missefficiency for the in depth post.
They are planning to release him tomorrow morning, his head swelling is going down but still no memory of who he is or what happened. He still thinks he's 10.
You're welcome 
The swelling going down is a good sign, but it can take some time for your nephew to regain his memory; time is the only real treatment here. From what I read, the average time of complete recovery is 3 to 6 months, if symptoms persist after this time, the doctors will run another series of tests on him.
In the meantime, you're going to need a physician you can call at practically all times to deal with any problems that can arise from the injury - at the moment mainly the memory loss. The physicians job will be supervision of the patients progress, medication and to tell the family members how to deal with your nephew while he is not really himself. If your nephew is really released tomorrow, I'd advise you to take him home and after that call your general practitioner and fill him in on the case so that he knows what's going on and can effectively help you with the situation.
Good luck and best wishes! Stay strong!
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i tried a severe head trauma case; kid would have died without padding and helmet. stupid kid ran into a water truck while riding motocross. our expert (we are defense) basically said that young adults (this kid was 19 as well) heal very rapidly and the effects of the head trauma are not as severe as for adults. so, there is good chance he will heal and although not be 100%, he will certainly be able to live a normal life.
of course, if they have to cut into his head, thats a different story. the kid in our trial didn't have any surgery done on his head because of the helmet.
wish the best for your cousin.
edit: as for memory, the kid was unable to remember anything about the accident, and as far as we know that amnesia never went away.
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I had a severe concussion and for almost half a day every ten minutes I kept resetting to a state of confusion and wondering where I was at and how I got there. Not as severe as your situation but just relating hard blows to the head are so random that its almost impossible to know ahead of time what to expect.
I really hope everything works out for your nephew and he comes out alright.
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Thanks for your insight dAPhREAk.
And thanks again to everybody for the support.
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There's just one more thing that came to my mind concerning how to deal with him while he still thinks he is 10:
agree with him on the main points.
Please don't let anyone in the family freak out because of stress, fatigue and desperation and tell him that he has to remember, that it can't be so hard, he simply has to try...
It only will confuse him. He thinks he's ten? All right, buy ice cream and watch Disney Channel. He will be under the impression that everything is ok, be relaxed and his brain will heal.
I'm telling you this because I recalled an elderly woman from the surgery ward who suffered from Alzheimer's and was convinced that she had to leave the hospital right now because she had to babysit her grandchildren. She didn't know (and didn't listen to us telling her) that she couldn't go and her grandchildren were already grownups. She insisted on leaving until we finally told her that she had to stay only one day longer to rest and be fit to watch her grandchildren the next day. We did this for two weeks and it was the only way to keep her from getting out of bed on her own and break her second hip too.
I hope your nephew's better already!
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EPT
